Here’s the good news about the live-action Star Wars television series that has been in development for years: It’s apparently just like the movies, but on a weekly basis. Here’s the bad news: It may be too expensive to actually make.

The live action TV show is kind of on hold because we have scripts, but we don’t know how to do ’em. Because, they literally are Star Wars, only we’re going to have to try to do them [at] a tenth [of] the cost. And, it’s a huge challenge… lot bigger than what we thought it was gonna be.

It’s a shame, because what we do know about the project makes it sound like something worth seeing.

The series was originally proposed as 100 hour-long episodes filling in the space between the fall of the Republic at the end of Revenge of The Sith and the ongoing rebellion against the Empire seen at the start of A New Hope, although producer Rick McCallum later suggested an alternate plan of running multiple series simultaneously to tell a massive arc of somewhere around 400 episodes. The show would be different in tone from either the movies or The Clone Wars, moving towards a darker, more character-based storytelling instead of the operatic sweep of Star Wars as we know it, and would’ve, for the most part, focused on non-Jedi or Sith characters (Which makes sense, considering the Jedi were effectively wiped out in Revenge, and considered a myth by the start of A New Hope), with McCallum telling an interviewer to “think about bounty hunter” when it comes to lead characters. George Lucas himself was rumored to be writing the show’s first season, but other writers were being brought onboard, or at least interviewed for positions; in his book A Writer’s Tale, Doctor Who showrunner Russell T. Davies talks about meeting with Lucas to work on the show (He turned down the opportunity, sadly; I would’ve loved to have seen his take on the universe, considering how much of his Who seemed a love letter to Lucas).

I have to admit, I really hope that this show finds its way into production and onto our television screens; there’s something massively appealing to me about the idea of longform exploration of the Star Wars universe pre-Star Wars (the first movie), when everything was becoming the world so many people fell in love with the first time around, without the expectations and plot weight of having to tell Darth Vader’s origin story at the same time. Fingers crossed that the Force will ultimately be strong with this one.

In the history of cinema it’s hard to top the utter disappointment felt when watching George Lucas’ follow ups to the original Star Wars movies. From the horror of Jar Jar Binks (a completely humourless animated character introduced in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace) to the victory of special effects over substance, the style and sense of wonder present in the original three movies was nowhere to be found. With this level of disappointment, it’s great to read an interview inTotal Film Magazine where George Lucas reveals that he wants his new live action Star Wars TV series to be more like the original movies.

“It’s kind of likeEpisode IV — it’s funny and there’s action, but it’s [a] lot more talky. It’s more of what I would call a soap opera with a bunch of personal dramas in it. It’s not really based on action-adventure films from the ’30s — it’s actually more based on film noir movies from the ’40s!”

If by “more talky” he means more plot, depth and a more compelling narrative, I’m all for it. Even better was a quote from the show’s producer Rick McCallum on the Star Wars Blog:

“It’s a much darker, much more character-based series, much more adult, and we’re hoping that it will go on for up to 400 episodes,” he said.

In 2007, McCallum also said that the new TV show is “something that can go on for years and years. One of the ideas is that we’ll have multiple series going on in about two or three years’ time.”

More adult and more character focused (and darker without being silly!) is certainly what’s needed to overcome the problems of the last three Star Wars movies. I’m aware that they made a great deal of money, but I can’t imagine ever watching them again – even if they are released as special editions and converted to 3D. Imagine Jar Jar Binks in 3D! It’s too horrible to contemplate. If they really do make 400 episodes though, it will be hard to sustain the writing quality. Excellent TV series such as Lost, Fringe and Heroes struggle to avoid cliché and poor plotting and they are nowhere near the 400 episode mark.

According to io9 (via Wookiepedia and The Celebrity Cafe) the new Star Wars TV show takes place in the “dark times” between the last prequel Star Wars EpisodeIII: Revenge of the Sith and Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, when most of the Jedi and anti-emperor politicians were hunted down and killed. Apparently it will be a gritty and dark series, which will star minor characters, including Boba Fett, C-3PO, and the Emperor Palpatine.

MTV recently revealed that the action will follow the Rebel Alliance as it slowly gains strength against the Empire, and as he did with the animated Clone Wars series, Lucas will write and produce an entire year’s worth of episodes before looking for a cable channel to air them.

When asked what he thought about the new Star Wars TV show by The Huffington Post, Mark Hamill, the actor who played the iconic role of Luke Skywalker in the original three Star Wars movies, appears to agree that George Lucas lost his way in the last three movies and that a TV series is a “positive step” forward:

“They’re going to really have to rely on good scripts rather than making it some special effects extravaganza,” Hamill said. “… he kind of got caught up in making it bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger until you’re just exploding with special effects all over the screen like some fireworks display. And to me, I think it’s more important to make the audience care about the characters. And I think with an hour script for TV, he might be able to reboot in a way that’s positive.”

When asked whether he would make an appearance in the new show he added:

“I don’t think it’s set in the time frame. I don’t know what the time frame is. My guess would be, if Luke appears, they’d want him younger. [Laughs] So they’d get a different actor. I really don’t know.”

Way back in 2005, the BBC reported that Lucas will write and produce the first season and then “hand it off from there”, while remaining executive producer and general overseer throughout the rest of the series. The style they are aiming for is apparently similar to Lucas’ Young Indiana Jones TV series.

There is no fixed release date for the show, but it’s expected sometime in 2011 or 2012 (with the end of 2010 no longer a possibility). According to MTV, casting for the series is currently underway.

Let’s hope the new Star Wars TV series, the first Star Wars spin off featuring live actors, makes up for the sins of the George Lucas follow up movies. I can’t live with another Jar Jar Binks or a young Anakin Skywalker in a futuristic racing vehicle (with sequences that look surprisingly like Xbox or PS3 computer games!). The sacrifices George Lucas appears to have made for the sake of blatant merchandising are disturbing.

Interestingly, speaking of Jar Jar, I came across an old Los Angeles Times article recently that reported that even some of the Lucasfilm team who worked on Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menacehad doubts about Jar Jar Binks and recognised he would alienate audiences. Phantom‘s visual effects supervisor Rob Coleman told a seminar that he brought his concerns to George Lucas, who told him that he had designed Jar Jar to appeal to small children. “I only had one audience member to please and that was George Lucas,” Coleman said. “If he was happy with what we were doing with Jar Jar, then I was happy.”

Apologies to fans of the last three Star Wars movies, but they just don’t do it for me at all. Even making allowances for being younger and more impressionable when I watched the originals, the contrast is too stark.Remember the love story between Anakin and Padme? It was a frightening thing. Please George, save me from the memories of that walking talking animated buffoon, the one and hopefully only Jar Jar Binks. Erase the nightmare. Let your live action Star Wars TV show be a compelling new chapter in a series that has lost its way but deserves to rise from the ashes.

One rumour I have heard is that writing about a young Princess Leia is off limits at the mo. Make of that what you will but I can’t remember where I heard it or how substantiated it is. But, going on that, I think we’ll see Bail Organa back for the TV show, along with the other original members of the Rebel Alliance. Aah, I feel right writing that – Rebel Alliance. Real Star Wars to me.

According to the news collected by io9, someone very special to Star Wars fans everywhere may be a part of the new Star Wars live-action television series. I’ll give you a hint: Look at the picture above.

Karen Traviss, who has written many Star Wars novels, was working on a Boba Fett novel, which many were extremely excited for. Back in December, the novel was cancelled, not by Karen, but by Lucas, with no explanation. There is now an actual reason for why this book has gone kaput, explained by Karen herself:

Yes, the Boba Fett novel was canceled by the publisher because of potential canon clashes with the upcoming TV series, as you have already heard from other sources. No, I really don’t have a clue what those clashes might be. Sorry.

Must get out of Sarlacc pit… this sucks.

” Lord Vader. Why am I not as cool as Boba?” “Look in a mirror.”

So, no, it’s not for sure that Boba will be a part of this show 100%, but come on, what else could conflict with the show? The coolest bounty hunter in the Star Wars universe (we’re not talkin Dengar here… just Boba) got treated like garbage in the films. He deserves a spot on the show just to show how bad-ass he is.

The story of this show is being kept under wraps. Many people speculate that is takes place between Episode III and A New Hope, so those lovable scamps from the original trilogy, that you’ve come to know and love, may not be in it. ( Teenage Han sneaking out in his dad’s Millennium Falcon, to get drunk in the Degobah System won’t be an episode then?) But I still think Boba has a shot! Here’s what Lucas had to say about what this show may contain.

It’s [a] lot more talky. It’s more of what I would call a soap opera with a bunch of personal dramas in it. It’s not really based on action-adventure films from the ’30s – it’s actually more based on film noir movies from the ’40s!”

We’ll see when it happens I guess.

What do you guys hope to get out of this show? More Dengar? What part, if any, could Boba play in this series?

~ Mat Elfring (InferiorEgo) is a comedian, teacher, comic store employee, comic book writer, andalthough hates the prequels, is a lover of the ORIGINAL trilogy. ~

Jabba could be in Live-Action.This is from Creative Screenwriting Magazine newsletter an interview with Clone Wars writers Henry Gilroy, Steve Melching, and Scott Murphy.

Quote:Were there any initial mandates from George about what territory they wanted covered, or things they wanted you to avoid?

Gilroy: No, most of the time George was really receptive to ideas. The entire movie plot of Jabba the Hutt’s son being kidnapped, initially I had pitched a story…[George] had said, “Try to stay away from Jabba the Hutt, because I want to use Jabba in the live-action series.” I wrote this story about the Hutt kidnapping, and then at the next meeting he said, “Why didn’t you put Jabba in it?” “You told us not to put Jabba in it!” “Oh, you gotta put Jabba in it!” George really is open to all sorts of stuff.

Kind of fits in with the whole criminal underworld themes rumored to be included in the series.

Lucas himself instructed the writers of the Star Wars: Republic comic book series not to kill off the Quinlan Vos character. Lucas had originally written a scene for Revenge of the Sith involving Quinlan Vos, but ultimately, he only got a mention in the film.[15]

Star Wars Live Action series

Originally Posted by Doze

The surprise for us, though, was that we found it (Mos Espa) bustling with activity. A number of labourers were renovating, repainting and building new buildings. Ironically, the effort to build these alien structures was done in a very human way; one man applied plaster with his bare hands, others sat and smoked in the shade of an alien hall.
One worker who spoke English, Farouk Ben Ibrahim, came forward to explain. Renovations began back in December, he said, after an Italian film producer contracted locals. “He gives us money, and we fix it,” Ibrahim said. “He said there is another part of Star Wars filming here. In the summer, maybe.”

Interesting, I will try to get a verification on that. My father has a friend who’s in charge of tourist excursions into Sahara and the other regions of south-Tunis, including the Mos Espa set, I’ll ask him about any of this.

Holostar will star Dash and Leebo from Shadows of the Empire!!!
June 2011 – Paperback: Untitled(Holostar) by Michael Reaves and Maya Kaathryn Bohnhoff, featuring a promising holostar – a rags to riches story set against the backdrop of the early days of the Rebellion.”

What the heck! Fimling will not be in Australia but in the Czech Republic?!? What?– First – The Screen Australia website has removed Star Wars from its upcoming production report.– Second – this quote from Lucasfilm Ltd. and McCallum:“The Lucasfilm Ltd. production of Red Tails is in full swing, and producers George Lucas and Rick McCallum are already considering a second project to shoot in the Czech Republic…
…Lucas and McCallum previously filmed several episodes of The Adventures Of Young Indiana Jones in the Czech Republic and were eager to return for Red Tails. “We have been consistently impressed with the country’s talented film professionals, the high quality of the local craftsmanship and the beauty of the Czech Republic’s widely varied locations,” McCallum said.Lucasfilm would like to bring a third production to the Czech Republic in January 2010 — a new property in the iconic Stars Wars franchise, made for TV. The $150m production would last four to seven years.”– Third – This from ScreenDaily.com:
“Lucas denied previous reports that he had decided to film the Star Wars TV series in Australia. He said if he brought the production to the Czech Republic, it would last four to seven years, creating up to 700 jobs.
“[Czech] politicians should remember that it’s not just film productions they’re losing: We also pay for hotels, locations, cars and other services. As much as 70 percent of the budget stays in the country where we shoot,” Lucas said.”
Now what I hope is that there are some politicians in the Czech Republic that are being jerks and Lucas is playing hard ball with them. Not that I care where they make it. It’s that I have some Star Wars friends in Australia and none in Czech Republic.
Found at TFN
——————————————————————————————
Return To Tatooine?
TheNational.ae has a very interesting article about Tunisia and a possible return to Tatooine in the Live-Action TV Series? Here is a piece of the article with some interesting information.
The surprise for us, though, was that we found it (Mos Espa) bustling with activity. A number of labourers were renovating, repainting and building new buildings. Ironically, the effort to build these alien structures was done in a very human way; one man applied plaster with his bare hands, others sat and smoked in the shade of an alien hall.
One worker who spoke English, Farouk Ben Ibrahim, came forward to explain. Renovations began back in December, he said, after an Italian film producer contracted locals. “He gives us money, and we fix it,” Ibrahim said. “He said there is another part of Star Wars filming here. In the summer, maybe.”
If true, no one would be more excited than fans of the series, and that includes Amr bin Amr, a local who has stood guard over the set since 1997. “George Lucas wore a fox mask so he could play a part in the film,” Amr said. “This is my responsibility,” he said, waving his cane at the movie set façades. “I hope they come back, so we can make money.”
Link: http://www.thenational.ae/article/20090214…/142095088/1041[/url]
Found at Galactic Voyage

Scouting for a location to film a lavish new “Star Wars” live-action television series, filmmaker George Lucas says the Czech Republic probably won’t get his business.

A few years ago, it might have, thanks to a well-established reputation as a low-cost, high-quality Central European film production haven. But now neighboring countries, particularly Hungary, are offering superior tax incentives along with workers of comparable quality.

George Lucas

“As a producer, I will always go to the country that has the best crew coupled with the most tax incentives,” Mr. Lucas said in an interview conducted via email.

It’s a blow to the Czech Republic, as it scrambles to climb out of an economic downturn, that a domestic film industry that gave birth to “Amadeus” and “A Knight’s Tale” among other movies is being sidelined as Mr. Lucas and other film industry moguls who had worked there in the past opt for locations in other European countries.

The Czech Republic began losing film-industry business in 2004, when scrappy Hungary seized the moment to jump-start a film industry virtually from scratch by creating tax breaks to attract moviemakers; some other European countries, including France, which had previously focused on domestic movie-making, followed suit.

Czechs have been known for movie-making since film’s early days, and the country’s film schools have churned out a steady stream of highly skilled professionals, including Milos Forman, who won Academy Awards for best director of “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” and “Amadeus.”

By 2008, money spent by foreign film producers in the Czech Republic had fallen a stunning 85% to $40 million from $270 million in the peak year of 2003, according to financial consultancy EEIP. Back then, U.S. and U.K. producers channeled about 5% of their annual spending on English-language films and TV shows to the Czech film industry; this fell to barely 1% last year, according to the Czech Audiovisual Producer’s Association.

If 2008 was bad, this year looks dire.

“No major Hollywood or any other big international production has come here yet this year,” said Jasmina Torbati, a producer at Centralscope, a film company, based at the well-known Prague Barrandov film studios.

The rapid evolution of Hungary’s film industry is a lesson in shrewd tax and industrial planning: In 2004, when the local incentive plan was launched, foreign filmmakers spent $21 million in Hungary, compared with nothing a year earlier. By 2005, Hungary had caught up with the Czech Republic: Foreign producers spent $85 million in each country, according to an EEIP study commissioned by the Czech Ministry of Culture. It was in 2007 that Home Box Office Inc., a unit of Time Warner Inc., chose to film the Tom Hanks-produced TV miniseries, “John Adams” in Hungary.

Last year, filmmakers spent about $250 million in Hungary, including about $150 million by foreign companies, according to the country’s Motion Picture Public Foundation. The government returned about $20 million in the form of rebates to foreign and domestic filmmakers alike.

Hungary recently upped the ante: Under new rules, the government now reimburses filmmakers for 25% of spending outside the country on a given movie. For example, spending on postproduction work carried out in London or Los Angeles on a film originally shot in Hungary can be offset. Hungary’s local incentive program originally centered only on cash rebates of 20% of all local expenditure by filmmakers.

“The legislation aims to enable the Hungarian film industry to succeed amid the rise in economic and cultural competition,” said Judit Bor Varadi, an official at Hungary’s Ministry of Culture and Education. “It’s an appropriate answer to the challenges Hungary faces because of its geography and language constraints, and small audiovisual market.”

The incentive program has helped to lure such productions to the country as Miramax’s “The Debt,” with Helen Mirren, Universal’s “Hellboy II: The Golden Army” and Atlas Entertainment’s “Season of the Witch,” with Nicolas Cage.

“The dynamics have changed: productions used to look at Prague first and then at Hungary; now they look at Hungary first and then at Prague,” said Howard Ellis, owner and managing director of Budapest-based Mid Atlantic Films, which served as a local production partner for HBO on “John Adams.”

Over the years, spending by foreign filmmakers — measured on a per-production basis — at Mid Atlantic “ranged between as little as $8 million and as high as $30 million,” Mr. Ellis said. “And I can say that all our clients, ever since 2005, have received the full 20% of the value spent.”

Twelve Years in the Making?

Our mole aka "Woort" reveals the true story of how LucasFilms has been planning the Star Wars Live Action Series since they began to clean up the Original Trilogy with digital tweaks. Woort tells us how, bit by bit, the development of the New Trilogy was also getting things ready for the Television Show. Read all about it here!

Sex In Sci Fi

Who is the sexiest chick in Sci Fi? Who is screwing the damsel in distress? From the incestuous three way of Empire Strikes Back to the slash fiction world of Spock and Kirk, explore the kinky side of superhero sex!